Inside The Kings

Surprising Stat Reveals the Kings' Best Three-Man Lineup

The Sacramento Kings have a surprisingly impressive trio in their lineup.

Eric Sperlazza

Mar 14, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Mar 14, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The Sacramento Kings have had a season of turnover. Franchise centerpiece De’Aaron Fox was traded at the deadline that also brought in Zach Lavine, Jonas Valanciunus, and Jake LaRavia, while DeMar DeRozan was brought in during the offseason that saw Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes depart. Oh, and Mike Brown was fired before the All-Star break. 

As expected, the Kings have had to try a ton of different lineups to see what works with all the new personnel and head coach. Sacramento has used 16 different starting lineups this season with varying success. Their best lineup record-wise, includes DeRozan, Keon Ellis, Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis. 

More specifically, the three-man lineup of DeRozan, Ellis, and Murray has had a lot of success this season. They’ve gone 10-5 while starting together and have the Kings’ best net rating among lineups that have played over 100 minutes this season. 

While 10-5 is a very respectable record as starters (54-win pace), that record gets even better if you take the lineups where those three started with Lavine out of the equation. When DeRozan, Murray, and Ellis start without Lavine, the Kings are 6-2 with their only losses coming against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks. 

Per NBA.com, in 517 minutes together, DeRozan, Ellis, and Murray have a defensive rating of 106.9 and a net rating of +14.3. That defensive rating would be just behind the Thunder for the best in the league. Of course, you need five players in the starting lineup so this exercise is all hypothetical, but why have the three aforementioned guys been so successful this season?

DeRozan is a six-time All-Star and one of the best scorers in NBA history, but defense has never been his forte. However, the best teams that he played with in Toronto were all solid defensively. From 2015-16 until DeMar was traded to the Spurs after the 2017-18 season, the Raptors never fell out of the top ten in opponent points per game. 

While DeRozan was younger at the time and more capable of staying in front of defenders, I believe this has a lot less to do with age than it does with personnel. 

During his time in Toronto, DeRozan often shared the floor with Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunus, DeMarre Carroll, and Serge Ibaka, who are all known as plus defenders. Kyle Lowry is the guy who DeRozan played with the most, and while he never made an All-Defensive team, Lowry’s reputation on that side of the ball is very good. 

With Toronto, Lowry averaged 2.67 defensive win shares. For reference, six-time All-Defensive Team guard Jrue Holiday averages 2.20 for his career. In his short career, Keon Ellis has shown he can have a similar level of defensive impact while taking on the toughest assignments in the league, like Steph Curry

Playing DeRozan with an elite point-of-attack defender like Lowry or Ellis allows him to shift to a lower usage guard or a larger post player where he is able to use his strength to defend rather than relying on his lateral quickness. 

Within six feet, players are actually shooting 2.3% lower than league average with DeRozan as the closest defender versus all other points on the floor where they are shooting at least average or above. Combine this with Keegan Murray’s ability to defend 1-4 while providing excellent help-side defense and you have a winning formula. 

Being able to play major minutes with the three-man lineup of DeRozan, Ellis, and Murray is clearly going to help Sac’s defense, but what happens to the offense? 

Well, it’s also really good. Among three-man lineups with over 200 minutes played, the aforementioned group trails only Sabonis, Ellis, and DeRozan in offensive rating. They have the best AST/TO ratio among lineups with 500+ minutes, the second-best effective field goal percentage, and are tied for the best AST ratio (% of assisted baskets). 

Not only is DeRozan a better defender than Lavine, but he is a much better playmaker and can elevate players like Murray and Ellis who are at their best in catch-and-shoot situations. On passes from DeRozan, Murray and Ellis are shooting 42% and 48% respectively from deep on the season. 

DeRozan had eight assists in their win against the Grizzlies on Monday and showed how he’s able to open up space for others with how much attention he draws.

While it is incredibly unlikely that LaVine will be moved to the bench, coach Doug Christie can use some creativity to get DeRozan, Ellis, and Murray more minutes together and slot LaVine in with the best defenders on the roster to mitigate defensive lapses for the remainder of the season. 

Their next test comes against DeRozan and Lavine’s former team, the Chicago Bulls, on Thursday night in Sacramento. 

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Eric Sperlazza
ERIC SPERLAZZA

Eric Sperlazza covers the NBA and Sacramento Kings for Sacramento Kings On SI.

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